Thousand Foot Krutch: Art of Breaking
Trevor McNevan, Joel Bruyere, and Steve Augustine make up the youthful-sounding, punk rock band Thousand Foot Krutch. And their latest, The Art of Breaking, picks up right where Phenomenon left off. The band, which I personally think sounds better on CD than they do on-stage, rocks hard either way, but the greatest attribute to their sound is the ability to blend melody AND punk-rock. Something is missing when the speakers rock so loud that you can’t hear the music in their punk rock music…
The other great attribute of TFK is their head-on approach to the troubles they experience in life, and nowhere is that better expressed than in “Absolute.� Here, the band recognizes that we all have the tendency to try and blend in, to ‘synchronize.’ McNevan cries out for an extreme rather than a middle ground, that the ‘other’ would speak, to not “talk if you aren’t gonna tell me the truth.� “Slow Blend� recognizes that the ‘other’ has to step in because he still struggles with what is truth and what is lies. As a side note, I think the artwork of the album wonderfully illustrates this situation, with a Garden of Eden spin. The woman reaches from the outside toward the foliage and lush growth inside, breaking through an unseen, yet physical boundary. What is she seeking? In reference to the songs, she seeks after truth.
In the title track, McNevan sings defiantly in the chorus, “I won’t become what I was before/You cannot kill what’s not your creation/This is the Art of Breaking.� Just when you think you can’t take it anymore, TFK wants you to hold out for truth, to stand strong for one more time, to not fall back into your former problems. In “Stranger,� McNevan expresses a messed up jumble of thoughts that are a passionate point he wants to get across but knows he isn’t making sense to the other person yet. This situation stands for our inability to pray what we want to God sometimes, but certainly stands in for dating relationships, friendships, and expressing our faith to others. He cries out for help, knowing that he is even a stranger to himself—and that his words may be betrayed by his actions.
The beauty of TFK is their willingness to recognize pain and hope from their own experience, and to share them with others. In “Hurt,� others are encouraged to hold on and not give up (common theme!) that is continued in “Move.� The other major theme is the recognition of need—need for help, need for salvation, need for truth, that is mentioned above, but also runs through “Hand Grenade,� the bouncy “Hit the Floor,� and “Make Me a Believer.� The best from “Go�: “I know the way you feel/the way you view incompetence…I love the way you move/You cover me like oxygen/Touched by your innocence/We come to you with hearts open.�
The album closes with where it began in “Breathe You In�: “I’ll do my best, to seek you out/And be myself, not impersonate.� TFK presents real life, real problems and real successes, with a desire for truthfulness expressed. Whether jumping up and down at a show, or rocking out in the car, they certainly provide some hope to rock out.
The other great attribute of TFK is their head-on approach to the troubles they experience in life, and nowhere is that better expressed than in “Absolute.� Here, the band recognizes that we all have the tendency to try and blend in, to ‘synchronize.’ McNevan cries out for an extreme rather than a middle ground, that the ‘other’ would speak, to not “talk if you aren’t gonna tell me the truth.� “Slow Blend� recognizes that the ‘other’ has to step in because he still struggles with what is truth and what is lies. As a side note, I think the artwork of the album wonderfully illustrates this situation, with a Garden of Eden spin. The woman reaches from the outside toward the foliage and lush growth inside, breaking through an unseen, yet physical boundary. What is she seeking? In reference to the songs, she seeks after truth.
In the title track, McNevan sings defiantly in the chorus, “I won’t become what I was before/You cannot kill what’s not your creation/This is the Art of Breaking.� Just when you think you can’t take it anymore, TFK wants you to hold out for truth, to stand strong for one more time, to not fall back into your former problems. In “Stranger,� McNevan expresses a messed up jumble of thoughts that are a passionate point he wants to get across but knows he isn’t making sense to the other person yet. This situation stands for our inability to pray what we want to God sometimes, but certainly stands in for dating relationships, friendships, and expressing our faith to others. He cries out for help, knowing that he is even a stranger to himself—and that his words may be betrayed by his actions.
The beauty of TFK is their willingness to recognize pain and hope from their own experience, and to share them with others. In “Hurt,� others are encouraged to hold on and not give up (common theme!) that is continued in “Move.� The other major theme is the recognition of need—need for help, need for salvation, need for truth, that is mentioned above, but also runs through “Hand Grenade,� the bouncy “Hit the Floor,� and “Make Me a Believer.� The best from “Go�: “I know the way you feel/the way you view incompetence…I love the way you move/You cover me like oxygen/Touched by your innocence/We come to you with hearts open.�
The album closes with where it began in “Breathe You In�: “I’ll do my best, to seek you out/And be myself, not impersonate.� TFK presents real life, real problems and real successes, with a desire for truthfulness expressed. Whether jumping up and down at a show, or rocking out in the car, they certainly provide some hope to rock out.
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